According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2010, no state in the United States had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent. In fact, 36 states had a prevalence of 25 percent or more and 12 of these states had a prevalence of 30 percent or more.

Many factors contribute to obesity, most importantly a lack of access to healthier lifestyle choices. We’ve written about how sustainable transportation, like public transit, bicycling and walking, can have a significant impact on public health. But such multi-layered and complex public health issues cannot be resolved with singular solutions. In addition to making sustainable transportation solutions available, it is imperative to incorporate additional efforts to tackle these challenges, especially in urban areas. And according to the findings of the Urban Design Lab and the MIT Collaborative Initiatives, “no single effort to curb childhood obesity will be sustainable or effective on a broad scale if the larger food system is not addressed.”

Along these lines, urban farming is an important element of access to sustainable life choices, which is why Ian Cheney’s Truck Farm is nothing short of genius. Upon moving to New York in 2009 and realizing how difficult it can be to find a place to grow local food, filmmaker Ian Cheney planted a mini farm in the back of his old Doge, and so the Truck Farm project was born, The Pop-Up City explains. The project’s mission is to teach the public how easy, fun and accessible growing food can be.